LOGIC AND PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE 2

Logic&PhilSci 2 [LT9027_LT6_20/21]
Title: DEBATES IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE
Teaching Language: English

Teacher
Jacomien Prins
Dipartimento di Filosofia e Beni Culturali
Malcanton Marcorà, Office C301
e. jacoba.prins@unive.it

Contribution of the course to the overall degree programme goals
This course explores the main debates, themes and theories of contemporary philosophy of science, and investigates fascinating, challenging questions such as: How much faith should we place in what scientists tell us? Is it possible for scientific knowledge to be fully "objective?" What, really, can be defined as science? And, how does science affect our self-image? No prerequisites.

Expected learning outcomes
Having a good sense of science in its philosophical context enables us to evaluate the role of science both in our society and in our self-image. Having followed the course, students must be able

1. To understand debates related to science, technology and sociology: to form and substantiate an opinion, and to listen to, understand and respect other stances
2. To critically assess scientific authority
3. To develop competence to deal with complex global problems (from a perspective of solidarity and sympathy with the marginalized and different)

none

Lectures
When: Fourth term: April – May 2021

Structure

Week 1: Philosophy of science: the central issues
8/4 Science or pseudoscience?
9/4 Scientific inference and the problem of induction

Week 2: Historical and systematic perspectives on scientific change and scientific revolutions
15/4 The Scientific Revolution in historical perspective
16/4 The Scientific Revolution in systematic perspective: Thomas Kuhn

Week 3: Theory choice
22/4 Explanation in science
23/4 The debate over scientific realism

Week 4: Philosophical debates in biology and psychology
29/4 Philosophical problems related to Darwin’s theory of natural selection
30/4 Freud and the psychoanalytic mode of observation: between sentiment and science

Week 5: Science and its critics
6/5 Bruno Latour: ‘Opening Pandora’s Box’
7/5 Standpoint Theory: Gender, Race and Indigenous Knowledge

Study load
Classes 30 hours

Final Exam (=Essay Assignment)

For the LITERATURE / REFERRAL TEXTS see the course syllabus on Moodle (the list is too long to be included here)

reading, writing and listening assignments

formal lectures

English

written